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Immune System Etc.com focus: immune system information, the immune response, immune system support, nutrition, what you need to be aware of when you boost the immune system, what is immune system balancing, combating immune system stressors, what weakens the immune system, what strengthens the immune system, immune system deficiencies including auto immune disorders and how you can help the body heal.

Nutrition & the Immune System

According to Dr. Jesse Stoff, Dr. Robert Atkins and others, poor nutrition can cause ill health and suppress immune function. Poor nutrition can present itself in a couple of ways.

The first way is by not giving your body the food or nutritional supplementation it needs. The nutrients just aren’t there in the first place.

The second way is by having a compromised digestive system that isn’t capable of breaking break down food particles into a form the body can use. Beyond symptoms of nutritional deficiency and poor function that can develop, the co-factors and supports the body in general and immune system needs to function become unavailable.

“Virtually every study comparing supplement takers with a matched group that does not take supplements shows that those taking nutrients are far healthier.”

Dr. Robert Atkins, "Nature’s Answer To Drugs"

Part I – Nutrition [Food & Supplementation]

Micronutrients - Macronutrients

Vitamins and minerals are classified as micronutrients. We get them by eating plants and animals that make them. Minerals come from the earth. If it’s not in the soil, it won’t be in the food grown there. These nutrients cannot be manufactured in our bodies (with the exception of some of the B vitamins).

They are not energy sources. We get energy from macronutrients; carbohydrates, protein and fats (food). However, micronutrients [found in food] help to convert those macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein and fats) into useable forms.

Micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) "function principally as coenzymes (in collaboration with enzymes) for a variety of metabolic reactions and biochemical mechanisms within our many bodily systems. Each enzyme is specific to one biochemical reaction. Enzymes are catalysts, that is, they speed up specific chemical reactions that would proceed very slowly, if at all, without them.”Dr. Elson Haas, M.D. Ideally, these micronutrients should be obtained from food. At least that’s the way it used to be.

Is Today’s Food Really Food?

There are some problems with food today. Dr. Burt Berkson, MD states, “Our recent ancestors ate from a menu rich in fresh foods; vegetables, fruits, and almost raw meats. Today, most of the food that people eat is processed in some way to ensure an attractive, shelf-stable, product…Is processed food still food?”

Elizabeth Lipski, board certified clinical nutritionist says, “Today we are part of a massive uncontrolled science experiment. What happens when people are fed highly processed foods, lacking in nutrients and fiber and loaded with chemicals, over three generations?

What happens when you put these same people under high levels of stress, in sedentary jobs, with poor air and water quality? Is it a coincidence that infertility rates are up, that Americans are fatter than ever before, that we are more violent than ever before…

Is it a coincidence that more children have attention deficit syndrome, a condition that never existed previously…Is it a coincidence that our immune systems are breaking down or that diabetes and heart disease rates have changed dramatically over the past eighty years? I don’t think so.”

References to our poor food intake are so numerous that the issue that our “food” isn’t the nutritious commodity it used to be is an accepted fact to most anyone paying attention.

Not too long ago the American Medical Association (AMA) approved the use of nutritional supplementation.

In 1997 the following appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “The era of nutrient supplements to promote health and reduce illness is here to stay…There is overwhelming evidence of immunological enhancement following such an intervention.”

For those persons who have been supplementing for the last 40 years while ignoring their doctor’s negative appraisal of supplements, it’s not news.

Synergy and Balance

Today it’s easy to add supportive micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants) to anyone’s diet to avoid deficiencies. Note that avoiding deficiencies and providing optimal micronutrient supplementation are not the same thing by a long shot.

Outside of being easier, there are a variety of issues that a good multiple nutrient product supports. A couple of those issues are balance and synergy.

“Having the proper balance of vitamins and minerals is very important. Scientific research has proved that excesses of isolated vitamins or minerals can produce the same symptoms as deficiencies of vitamins or minerals.

For example, high does of isolated B vitamins have been shown to cause the depletion of other B vitamins. Similarly, if zinc is taken in excess, symptoms of zinc deficiency can result….

Synergy is a phenomenon whereby two or more vitamins combine to create a stronger vitamin function than the sum of their individual effects would suggest. For example, in order for bioflavonoids to work properly they must be taken along with vitamin C…In addition, certain substances can block the absorption and effects of vitamins…”Phyllis Balch, CNC & James Balch, MD

It’s Easy – But Choose Wisely

Food supplements, (the “multiple vitamin” which also contains minerals and antioxidants), are commonplace. And that’s what they are, supplements to food.

Poor nutritional intake can result from poor food choices or poor food quality as in organic food vs. processed food. It’s easy to have nutritional deficiencies.

Poor nutrition doesn’t give the immune system those factors it needs to operate. It also leaves a multitude of other functions in the body unsupported.

Vitamins, minerals, antioxidants must be taken in a balanced way. Unbalanced supplementation can cause deficiencies. Antioxidants have special duties.

It’s not enough for food supplements to be ingested, they must be a high enough quality for them to be absorbed and reach the tissues. There’s a world of difference between “optimum” and “just enough”.